Renaissance
by liltinglullaby
Summary: "Promise me, Cammie, that you will let this be over." /drabbles inspired by GG5.


**A/N: In honour of the fantastically amazing GG5 :)**

**These are just a few drabbles inspired by a few quotes from the book. The drabbles and quotes have small references to scenes, but I tried to make them ambiguous so as not to spoil the book. Still, consider yourself cautioned!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own GG.**

**Unfortunately.**

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><p>"<em>Death is the only thing that could have ever kept him from you."<em>

It's a clearing.

_The _clearing.

I'm clawing desperately- clawing and clawing and clawing and clawing, until my fingers are worn and red. Bloody red.  
>Blood stains the snow, a sight I'm far too accustomed to by now, and I'm crying and sobbing, briefly aware of tears streaming down my face but not really caring. I'm a blubbering mess.<br>I keep mumbling through sobs, but my words break off into more cries and hiccups, and even I have no idea what I'm saying. Somehow, I don't think I could have uttered a single coherent sentence even if I wasn't crying.

As I claw further and further, words are ringing in my head, a mash-up of voices speaking, yelling, wailing and whispering as they try to get me to listen. I pay them no heed. The noise subsides for a while as a circus tune floats in my head, surrounding and enveloping the voices like a blanket- a melody without lyrics, the song that's been playing in my head over and over again all this while, and it increases in volume as I continue to claw. I know I'm nearing what's underneath the layers of snow, and my heart starts beating even more frantically, increasing in intensity along with the music as it reaches its deafening crescendo, reverberating around my head, all the while getting louder, louder, and _louder_...

A pair of strong, comforting arms wrap around my waist, pulling me away, and I turn and cry into the chest that's just there. When I open my eyes again I see the white blankets that covered me as I fell asleep tangled and swirled around me, and that's when I know I'm in the academy, not in the clearing, and it was just a nightmare. A dream.

But it's not just a nightmare. Not really.

It's also a memory.

Zach strokes my hair, murmuring words of comfort. He tells me that it's okay; that I'm going to be okay; that everything's going to be okay.

It doesn't feel like anything's ever going to be okay again.

He gently wipes my tears away and presses his lips to my forehead, and that makes me smile, just a little bit.

"You're going to be okay."

Right in this moment, I believe him.

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><p>"<em>I'm not crazy."<em>

"_I know."_

I'm sitting silently on the rooftop, looking out into the distance. I'm trying to come to terms with everything I've learnt and discovered, but it hurts. I don't think it'll ever stop hurting.

I sense Zach behind me as soon as he steps onto the rooftop. I'm kind of used to it.

He sits next to me and takes my hand, and I let him. I don't turn my head, and he doesn't say a word.  
>There's so much to think about, so much to say, but right now there isn't a need for words. And so we just sit together, holding hands through this comfortable silence.<p>

I rest my head on his chest, and close my eyes.

I can hear pigeons cooing in the distance and I feel the rush of air as a huge gust of wind blows against me, cuing Zach to pull me even closer. It reminds me of another scene, a memory, but at a different place. I remember the cliff and the strong winds that nearly blew me over the edge.

I remember too much.

I stop thinking.

I try to concentrate on the here and now, of still being alive against all the odds, of being able to sit right here next to Zach and hear the beating of my heart.

So I focus on its steady thumping, and when I listen a little more carefully, I can hear Zach's heart beating to the same rhythm.

_Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum._

I fall asleep to the sound of our hearts beating together, perfectly in sync.

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><p>"<em>There are no coincidences."<em>

"Fancy seeing you here."

"Really, Zach, really?" I raise an eyebrow and laugh slightly.

"What?" he smirks as he comes out of the passageway he was hiding in.

"First, a trained Peeping Tom. And now a stalker, too?"

He shrugs and swings an arm around my shoulder, grinning. "What can I say? It's part of the curriculum."

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><p>"<em>Promise me, Cammie, that you will let this be over."<em>

"This is bliss."

I scoop a huge chunk of ice cream out from the tub and lick it, but just as I'm about to stuff it into my mouth, Bex whacks my hand and grabs my spoon. She's dressed in her flannel pyjamas and lying on her stomach next to Liz, with the most devious smile I've ever seen across her face.

And trust me- _that's_ devious.

"Eating from the tub. Tsk, tsk," she shakes her head, pretending to look disapproving, and proceeds to stuff my spoon into her mouth. I start to move to snatch my spoon back, but Macey pulls on my hair and scowls, warranting a yowl of pain from me. She adjusts herself on the bed I'm laying my back against and arranges my hair into different parts. She herself, of course, looks amazing as usual, even in her sleepwear, with her hair let down and loosely resting on her shoulders.

"I'm trying to braid your hair," she sighs, as she twists my hair in all kinds of weird and painful ways. "Your hair's still too short, though, but at least it's about back to normal. I still shudder when I think of that black mess of a bird's nest it used to be when you first came back."  
>"Wow. Thanks for the compliment, Mace."<br>"No problem," she chirps back.

Liz looks up from her Countries of the World textbook and smiles.  
>"I'm glad you look like your old self again."<p>

There's a beat of silence.

I end it.

"So am I," I finally say. "I'm glad I _feel _like my old self again."

And looking at each other, we all smile.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, definitely not my best work, but I just had to get it out. I've been dying to write something for Gallagher Girls ever since I read GG5. If you want to talk about the book, feel free to pm me. :)**

**Leave a review to tell me what you think of the fic! :D**


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